Luminar secures up to $200M following CEO departure and layoffs

Lidar firm Luminar reached a take care of Yorkville Advisors International and an unnamed investor that might convey one other $200 million into its coffers by way of the sale of convertible most popular inventory over an 18-month interval. The settlement, which was announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday, follows an abrupt change in management and layoffs.

Earlier this month, Luminar’s board changed founder Austin Russell as CEO and board chair. Luminar’s board appointed Paul Ricci to the position. Ricci is the previous chairman and CEO of Nuance. The corporate additionally launched another round of layoffs — its third since spring 2024.

Underneath the phrases, Luminar will concern $35 million in convertible most popular inventory to the traders. Luminar might concern further tranches in quantities of as much as $35 million not more than each 60 days at a purchase order value equal to 96% of the said worth of the convertible most popular inventory. Nonetheless, Luminar isn’t below any obligation to concern further inventory.

“At the moment’s transaction offers us with further monetary flexibility and additional strengthens our stability sheet,” Luminar CFO Tom Fennimore mentioned in a press release. “We’ve made substantial progress in extending our liquidity runway with our restructuring efforts, and the extra capital accessible to us below this facility offers us with one other instrument to comprehend our long-term worth.”

The corporate mentioned proceeds from the preliminary $35 million issuance are anticipated for use for common company functions and debt retirement.

Yorkville has supplied these lifelines to different struggling publicly traded corporations, a listing that features failed Lordstown Motors, Faraday Future, and the now bankrupt Canoo.

Luminar was based by Russell in 2012 when he was simply a teen. Luminar, and Russell, turned Silicon Valley darlings when the lidar startup broke cowl in April 2017 after working for years in secrecy and on the peak of the autonomous car expertise hype cycle.

In 2021, Luminar merged with particular function acquisition firm Gores Metropoulos Inc., with a post-deal market valuation of $3.4 billion. At the moment, Luminar has a market cap of $179 million. Luminar raised $250 million previous to the SPAC announcement.

Luminar has had some wins, however has additionally restructured a number of occasions. Luminar reduce about 30% of its workforce in 2024 by way of two rounds of layoffs. A few of these layoffs spilled into the primary quarter of 2025. A complete of 212 staff have been laid off.

In a regulatory submitting earlier this month, the corporate mentioned it started further layoffs Could 15. These new layoffs are anticipated to price $4 million to $5 million in money expenses. These prices are anticipated to be incurred within the second and third quarters of this yr.